climate change is only possible with cheap renewable energy

Tariq Banuri, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development at the UN, argues that integrating climate and development goals requires making renewable energy affordable and competitive. He asserts that reducing the cost of renewables is the only way to ensure global economic growth and poverty reduction while lowering emissions.

• Integrating climate and development agendas requires focusing on making renewable energy affordable and competitive, as emissions will naturally decrease once these costs are lowered.
• The 2009 World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) indicated that a coordinated global plan could reduce the costs of renewable energy to affordable levels within ten years.
• China is identified as the only country that has consciously adopted a target to make renewable energy competitive with fossil fuels within five years.
• There is a significant global disparity in energy consumption: the US average is 246 kilowatt hours per person per day, the European average is around 120, while Pakistan and India average 16-18, and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) averages 10-12.
• To enable global development, the cost of renewable energy needs to be reduced from as high as 30 rupees per unit to 3 or 4 rupees per unit, a goal the world community could achieve in 10 years.

APA

Banuri, T. (n.d.). climate change is only possible with cheap renewable energy. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/story/tariq-banuri

Chicago

Banuri, Tariq. climate change is only possible with cheap renewable energy. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, n.d. https://cdkn.org/story/tariq-banuri.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Banuri |first1=Tariq |title=climate change is only possible with cheap renewable energy |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |url=https://cdkn.org/story/tariq-banuri |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{banurindclimate, author = {Banuri, Tariq}, title = {{climate change is only possible with cheap renewable energy}}, publisher = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/story/tariq-banuri}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }